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Quotes about thinking

552 quotes from 279 people

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The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), Chapter 3In context
- Knowledge
The more outré and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined, and the very point which appears to complicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled, the one which is most likely to elucidate it.
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), Chapter 15In context
- Facts
My worthy friend, gray are all theories,
And green alone Life’s golden tree.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832Faust (1808), Scene IV, spoken by MephistophelesIn context
- Experience
- Ideas
Man usually believes, if only words he hears,
That also with them goes material for thinking!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832Faust (1808), Scene VI, spoken by MephistophelesIn context
- Talking
The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.
Karl Marx1818–1883The Communist Manifesto (1848)In context
- Ideas
- Power
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
William Shakespeare1564–1616Sonnet 30 (1609)In context
- Time
‘T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,⁠—you’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
Emily Dickinson1830–1886Much Madness is divinest Sense (1890)In context
- Freedom
“It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first.”
Jane Austen1775–1817Pride and Prejudice (1813), Volume I, Chapter XVIIIIn context
Now, the value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it. Indeed, the probabilities are that the more insincere the man is, the more purely intellectual will the idea be, as in that case it will not be coloured by either his wants, his desires, or his prejudices.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
- Ideas
Genius lasts longer than beauty.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
- Beauty
- Genius
God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for ever; that vulture the very creature he creates.
Herman Melville1819–1891Moby-Dick (1851), Chapter XLIVIn context
“It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh,” said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully; “for you must sleep, and eat and drink. However, you have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.”
L. Frank Baum1856–1919The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Chapter VIn context
- Intelligence
By what strange law of mind is it that an idea long overlooked, and trodden under foot as a useless stone, suddenly sparkles out in new light, as a discovered diamond?
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Volume II, Chapter XXXVIIIIn context
- Ideas
The more cunning a man is, the less he suspects that he will be caught in a simple thing. The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Crime and Punishment (1867), Part III, Chapter VIIn context
- Intelligence
The stupider one is, the closer one is to reality. The stupider one is, the clearer one is. Stupidity is brief and artless, while intelligence wriggles and hides itself. Intelligence is a knave, but stupidity is honest and straightforward.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Book V: Pro and Contra, Chapter IIIIn context
- Intelligence